Collison brothers' Stripe steps up international expansion

Stripe, the billion dollar online payments company established by Limerick brothers Patrick and John Collison, has today expanded the range of currencies it will allow businesses to accept. The goal of the start-up is to make Stripe available throughout the world.

Businesses using Stripe in the US and Europe will now be able to accept payments in 139 currencies. Stripe will automatically handle converting and transferring funds back to the businesses’ home currency and will charge a 2 per cent fee atop market exchange rates for the conversion.

“ Localised pricing increases checkout completion rates by eliminating uncertainty for your customers and letting them avoid conversion fees,” the company said in a statement.

Stripe began offering its services to Irish users last year, and also operates in the US, Canada and the UK. The company is also testing its services in Spain, France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Australia, Luxembourg and Finland, bringing the number of countries it operates in to 12.

Stripe was established in San Francisco in 2010 and last month the company completed a $80 million fundraising to finance international expansion. This put a value of $1.75 billion on the company.